This invention relates to accessory mounts for firearms, and more particularly to a combined handgrip and accessory mount for shotguns as well as to accessory mounts for other types of firearms.
Various types of devices are useful as accessories for being mounted to firearms, examples of such accessories being target illuminators and vertical pistol grips. Such accessories are conventionally mounted to an interface apparatus descriptively referred to as an accessory mount, which has been secured to the firearm. Such accessory mounts may include rail interface systems well known in the art pertaining to firearms, and in particular with respect to submachine guns, carbines, rifles and other firearms used for military and police operations.
The present invention provides further applications of and improvements to rail interface mounts for firearm accessories. According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a combined handgrip and accessory mount for a shotgun having a longitudinally moveable fore-end assembly, the handgrip/mount comprising: a shell adapted to be secured to the fore-end assembly for manually moving the fore-end assembly; and at least one rail structure on the shell for mounting a firearm accessory to the at least one rail structure. According to a preferred embodiment thereof, the shell includes interior arcuate sections for fitting the shell about a moveable fore-end tube of the shotgun""s fore-end assembly, the shell adapted to be secured to the fore-end tube. The rail structures may include the well known Picatinny rail, although another aspect of the present invention is a modified version of the Picatinny rail in which the rail includes a channel longitudinally therealong, which channel includes a longitudinally extending wall having at least one aperture therethrough, and the shell is adapted for securing a firearm accessory to the shell through such aperture.
Another preferred embodiment of the combined handgrip and accessory mount for a shotgun, according to the present invention, comprises: a shell adapted to be secured to the shotgun""s longitudinally moveable fore-end assembly, for manually moving the fore-end assembly; and at least one rail member adapted to be detachably secured to the shell for mounting a firearm accessory to the at least one rail member when the at least one rail member is secured to the shell. In a preferred embodiment thereof, the shell includes at least one longitudinal groove therealong, and the rail member includes a lateral projection longitudinally extending along the rail member for being received by the longitudinal groove when the rail member is secured to the shell. The longitudinal groove may comprise a longitudinally extending channel between two laterally outward projections longitudinally extending along the shell, and the lateral projection along the rail member projects laterally inwardly for being received by the channel of the shell. The handgrip/mount preferably includes two such longitudinal grooves or channels, each on opposite sides of the shell, for detachably securing two side rails to the shell for mounting a firearm accessory to one or each of the side rail members; in addition, the shell preferably includes a rail structure longitudinally extending along the shell""s bottom for mounting a firearm accessory to the bottom rail structure.
The modified Picatinny rails of the present invention, as well as the provision of rail members which are detachably securable to the shell of the accessory mount, may be implemented in accessory mounts for shotguns as well as in accessory mounts for other firearms.